Press syndicate chief in deteriorating condition

BAGHDAD, Sept. 21 (Iraqi News) – The press syndicate chief is in a deteriorating condition in hospital after being injured in a blast that hit the syndicate’s building in the capital yesterday, a local medic said on Sunday. “Muayyad al-Lami is currently under intensive medical treatment. His condition deteriorated today as a result of a partial blood clot, in addition to fractures in his left hand…,” a medical source from Baghdad’s downtown Sheikh Zayed Hospital, who preferred to remain unnamed, told IraqiNews.com­- Voices of Iraq- (Iraqi News). Yesterday, an official source from the syndicate said that an explosive charge planted by unknown men at the entrance of the press syndicate building in Baghdad’s northern area of al-Waziriya detonated at 11:00 a.m. during a syndicate board meeting, slightly wounding a number of civilians, including the syndicate chief, Muayyad al-Lami. “The explosion caused damage to three cars and totally destroyed four others, all belonging to syndicate employees,” the source noted. An official spokesperson for the Baghdad Operations Command (BOC) said that the blast mainly targeted Lami, who was slightly injured by shattered glass. “Muayyad al-Lami was in the syndicate’s garden when the explosion occurred,” a spokesperson for the command, Maj. Gen. Qassem Ata, explained, noting that the device was detonated at a close distance.     SS (S) 1